(first posted 8/31/2011) One of the more…um, unavoidable cars at the Cottage Grove Concours was this very colorful 1955 Studebaker President Speedster. Now I just don’t have the time to do a more extensive write-up today, and I am saving myself for a more complete CC on the 1953 “Loewy” coupes (update: here it is). But this is just too spectacular to pass up, even if it is from a car show. Put your shades on!

Do I have to give this crowd a quick refresher of what the original ’53 coupe looked like. Naw, but like so many brilliant new cars that represented some real vision, the manufacturers just couldn’t wait to screw them up with lots of chrome, everywhere. The very clean and graceful and’53 Starliner was another sensation in Europe, like the ’60 Corvair, but I doubt the ’55 President would have made a similar impact. Crazy Americans!

Yes, this car is crazy; no make that psychedelic. From its fish-mouth maw,

To its heavy chrome side cladding,

And its over-the top interior, front (awesome dashes Studebaker had at the time),

and rear,

The President Speedster was a limited production (some 3k units) one-year-only wonder. It clearly paved the way for the Hawk that succeeded it in 1956.

The Speedster came standard with Studebaker’s most potent engine that year, a 185 hp version of the 259 cubic inch V8.

This particular car struck me as somehow familiar. I though it might have been from one of my youthful “trips”, but it turns out to have graced the cover of the October 1986 issue of Collectible Automobile, which I happen to have.

With that, I must run and leave you to add your color commentary. Shouldn’t be difficult.

55 Comments

Tragic. I grew up with a ’55 Champion. Full chromium fish mouth. Down at my grade-school eye level. Dad got it at the end of the model year, just as the ugly but conventional ’56s were coming out. If only it had been a ’54. When the ’61s came out we looked at the Larks, but got a very sharp looking black ’61 Ford convertible.

There was a fish-mouthed Sable in the late nineties. Just about as successful.

PS: Paul, there’s a gorgeous ’53 with fender skirts always parked in a spot I know in Portland. I should go get some snaps and put them up on the Cohort.

That Sable (and the Stude too) needs catfish barbels to complete the look.

I remember driving one of the similarly fish-mouthed Tauruses (Tauri?) as a rental right after that generation came out, and thinking that Ford had really screwed up–to me it seemed ponderous to drive like a big car but with the spaciousness of a small car, which is the exact opposite of what you’d want.

I never really realized how garish the color combos on the Speedster were. Maybe it’s improving Camera technology. I don’t know why the 1956 Hawks don’t seem as over the top as this…maybe the lack of “vibrant” color… or the diamond quilted leather everywhere?

It’s hard to believe they didn’t have a less garish face lift ready for ’55. It does everything a 1955 Dodge does, badly.

I have seen a couple of these in my lifetime. It seems that they are all either this color combo or the pink and charcoal. One of the reasons for the horrible sales (ok, besides the looks) was that the thing was just monstrously expensive. These things sold for the price of a Chrysler New Yorker. The interior was real leather and everything on Studebaker’s optional equipment list was made standard.

I believe that this was the first use of the 259 V8. But, compared to a car like a New Yorker or a big Buick, the Stude was undersized and underpowered. And, it was starting to look old fashioned even by 1955.

When I was about 7 years old we got a ’56 Champion from an elderly neighbor who could no longer drive. My dad cut the body off from the cowl back, cut about a foot of length out, and built a wooden pickup box on the rear. Bone stock six and three-on-the-tree, but that thing really was formidable off-road. Dad probably put a different rear end in it, but I don’t recall for certain. It was used instead of a tractor a lot, and of course we used it for fun too. Beat the hell out of it in fact, but it soldiered on from ’69 or so to ’91, when it finally died. Dad rarely did any work on it beyond normal maintenance.

The gorgeous ’53s were too good to last, I suppose. Around 1971 we had a neighbor who had a blue ’53 coupe he used for a doghouse for his German Shepherd, too. Weird but true.

As for the chrome troweled on…I think it was the first of many missteps that Studebaker made as they started sliding down the tubes. They were finding themselves in difficulty in those years…what with their fixed overhead, their breakeven point was far above what they could sell. For a time, they cooked the books, as Nance and Packard later found out; but they knew they were in trouble as they sought a pairing with debt-free Packard company.

The chrome, of course, was gaudy and detracted from the designer’s vision; but hell, everyone knew chrome sells. Look at Cadillac! Chevrolet! Just tack it on…we don’t have time for that. Gotta get the merger package put together…

The first of many, many missteps…that left what was, on V-Day, the most viable independent automaker, to shrivel and implode and finally become a unit of McGraw-Edison…and to disappear as a corporate entity.

I’m far from the first to say it, but what they did to Packard in terms of cooking the books was near-criminal, and today probably would attract an investigation–although Packard wasn’t setting the world on fire in terms of strategic planning either.

A few weeks ago I was walking my dogs around our neighborhood, and noticed that there was a movie or TV shoot going on around the corner. I happened to see a studio van (Econoline) that was being used to tote some of the crew around, and saw a sticker on its side with a stylized version of the Studebaker logo (round with a stylized “S” dividing red and blue areas)…I’m guessing this must have been a logo for Studebaker-Worthington Leasing, which is probably in the business of renting studio vehicles. A much-diminished legacy, but probably more profitable.

As for the deep-fried ledgers: It was so bad Packard’s directors considered a lawsuit to dissolve the merger on basis of fraud. But by the time they had a handle on the situation, Packard themselves had no place to go…they’d already closed down their own plant, the result of a fire, loss of Briggs as a body contractor, and other issues. There was nothing to do but ride it out.

The uninspired leadership, from the late 1950s, was mostly Packard’s. They were flailing; they signed onto an odd managerial contract with Curtiss-Wright which almost destroyed them. Then, the board push to diversify and exit automobiles…and, step by step, everything else eventually.

Anyone with an interest in Studebaker should read Studebaker: The Postwar Years by Richard Langworth. It was published in the late ’70s, but I got a copy online last year. At the time, many of the principals were still alive and were interviewed by Langworth, including Bob Bourke, Raymond Loewy and James Nance. Very interesting reading. As for the ’55s, the dealers complained about the lack of chrome, thus all the tacked on extras. I like the Speedster but must admit I’d rather have the ’53.

Look at Chevrolet indeed! Park a ’55 small block Chevy alongside this car. The poor guys at Studebaker must have just died when they saw that. Or, as Scotty said about Spock at the end of Star Trek II, “He’s dead already.”

I think it was a beautiful car for 1953, but price=wise, what was the GM Equivalent?
This same car basically soldiered on until 1964 model year IIRC, called Gran Tourismo at that point and looking like a Studebaker Grand Prix IMO.

In 55 id Like one in Lavendar/Plum please. I Love that leather seating too. Hope PW are available.

My great uncle owned Studebakers, his last not unlike the feature car from yesterday. It was a Lark VIII, but a four door, not a wagon or Daytona.

I think my dad liked these cars, he would occasionally speak about a Lemon Lime car when I was a little boy. I thought he was referring to our 1968 Mercury Montego which was a lime-ish color; not unlike the lime color that has been showing up recently on some Focii and Mustangs. It wasn’t until much later that I realized he was talking about one of these cars.

This was the height of gaudiness. I have pix of a 1956 Golden Hawk that I shot at the Grand Rapids Metro Cruise, that was only slightly less gaudy. Between the two, I think I’d take the 56. I think the 56 also got the Packard motor too, didn’t it?

I’ve never quite understood why these are one of the most sought after Studebakers but those same people say the ’58 Packard Hawk is plug ugly. The Packard is almost a cleaner design. Certainly it’s not any worse.

I love Collectible Automobile. They had a great article on the 53-55 Studebakers about ten years ago. I’ve subscribed to it since high school, and yes, I still have them all. I recently re-read the issue with the article on the Wagoinaires (February 2006), just in time to see the articles on CC. Great timing Paul!

Opinions are like…well you know, everyone has one. I think the colors are great, looking back 60 years it is easy to be critical, but place just about any other car next to it from any other manufacturer and you have about the same thing whether its fins or fish mouth, and generally Studebaker comes out looking better. That lazy ‘S’ emblem was one of the greats. I am so glad Pepsi has finally morphed their symbol so that it looks less like a Studebaker symbol on its side. Almost a direct rip-off. Studebaker-Leasing never went away, it is still very much in existance, the last known direct link to the once fabled Studebaker Corporation, still alive in the 21st century.

I’ve often thought how so many American car makers get ti right first time then muck about with the styling so later models aren’t as good looking.This proves it,the colour scheme does it no favours,something a lot more restrained would improve it’s looks.

Wow, just noticed the dash – dash in this car is out of a Hawk. The 55 Speedster dash is this one, also quite attractive. They are interchangeable, so maybe there were some unobtanium parts for the 55 dash, while the Hawk pieces covered like 6 years.

Pretty obscure, and even I never noticed it before. I know there are some Stude folks who mix and match dashes out of personal preference. But I’m betting on parts issues on that 1 year only Speedster-specific panel.

I looked it up. The 55 Speedster dash was a Speedster-unique item, totally unlike any other 55 Stude dash, and totally unlike any earlier or later version. Only a bit over 2200 Speedsters were made to begin with, and some cars had these fabulous dashes transplanted into other Stude models years ago. So, most of the pieces are irreplaceable, yet without enough of an owner base to repop them.

Another problem is the 1955 six volt tach that was a Speedster-only item. Perhaps the owner switched to a 12 volt system and it was easier to wire in a Hawk panel than try to adapt the old one. Many questions.

What did Mr. Loewy think of that front bumper? I have a hard time thinking of another design element that does more to spoil the overall effect of a beautiful car than that front bumper. It’s like a foreshadowing of GM in 1973!

Taken in the context of the times, it’s not difficult to figure out what Studebaker’s styling department was thinking in how they created this abomination out of the stunning, classic ’53 Starliner. The 1953 car, although beautiful, was beset by quality issues, not least of which was the Flexible-Flyer chassis (by design, no less).

So, Studebaker, in their all too typical by then panic-mode, had to do something to distance the ’55 car from it (but on the cheap), and this is what you got, a 1953 Starliner that looked like it had been run through a JC Whitney catalog. Unfortunately, ‘tragic’ doesn’t really do enough to sum it all up. The 1953 car, if it had been built right from the start, could have been a contender, maybe even on the level of the original Mustang (only eleven years earlier), and that might have made all the difference in Studebaker’s fortunes.

Instead, it ended up just being another footnote in the company’s sad history as Studebaker limped along to their inevitable demise.

Anyone who had one of those “lemon and lime” speedsters was famous for miles around in the ’50s. The fellow who owned the local newspaper distributorship in Framingham, MA was a Mr. Bates, who was a bespectacled bald man with thick framed, black glasses and a perpetually simmering cigar. He resembled the comedian, Jack E. Leonard (do you boomers remember him?). Mr. Bates was always referred to as, “the guy with the green and yellow Studebaker”.

When you drive down the West Side Highway in Manhattan, should you get caught in traffic around 113th St., the wagon wheel logo previous to the ying/yang Stude marque can be seen at the top of the super-cool Studebaker Building, cast into the ceramic tiles that cap the corners.